Murder bid accused cleared of pub attack

Window fitter Darren Edwards - alleged to have knifed Christopher Perkins up to five times - was also cleared of wounding the man with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The jury took one hour 14 minutes to reach their unanimous verdicts after the seven day trial.

Mr Perkins suffered a pierced lung as well as cuts to his other lung and the sac surrounding his heart when stabbed outside the The Earl of Dudley Arms, in Wellington Road, Dudley, in the early hours of May 11 last year.

He also received injuries to his elbows and legs. The weapon has not been found.

Mrs Grace Hale, prosecuting, said the victim had been at the pub with two friends when he became involved in an argument with a group of Asian youths and fighting started after one of the youths struck a woman.

She alleged that Mr Perkins and Mr Edwards swopped blows but the defendant insisted he was being attacked by a man in another area of the car park at the time when Mr Perkins was stabbed.

He told the jury: "I received a blow to the side of the head. Then I received a second blow and it made me feel a bit dizzy. I was in fear of my safety so I walked off the car park and headed in the direction of home."

He said that he was picked up near the pub shortly after 4am and driven to a friends house in Netherton before being collected by a workmate and taken to Bristol for a pre-planned job fitting windows in a block of flats.

Mr Edwards said he did not realise anybody had been stabbed until his mother phoned him the following day.

Mr Edwards from Kilburn Place, Netherton - who denied both offences - said he had downed 'three or four' glasses of neat brandy before trouble flared between two groups of men on the pub car park. Asked if he had stabbed Mr Perkins, he replied: 'No, I did not.'